30/09/20 (7 Minute Read)
The fitness industry is mad.
Millions of people around the world have chosen to dedicate their lives to helping others. It can be helping others with their body composition goals, maintaining and improving their mental health, or to train for some sporting event.
Yet somehow, in an industry where a huge amount of people care deeply about helping others, we have arrived at this point where fitness is one of the most divided and individualistic industries in the world.
Why?
Simple; social media.
And not in an “old man yells at cloud” kind of way. More in a “we’ve put our industry in the hands of others” kind of way. Social media in the year 2020 is the world’s largest advertising marketplace and there are two key reasons why it should not be the rock upon which the entire fitness industry is built.
Social media is built for every type of business to advertise to potential clients. Let me repeat the important part of that sentence; it is built for every type of business. Not only does this mean that it isn’t built specifically for gym owners, personal trainers, or fitness instructors to effectively and efficiently communicate with current and future clients, it means that they are competing with supplement suppliers, sellers of fitness equipment, and nutrition companies just to be seen by people who are probably not in the right place to consider becoming a client or member anyway.
Traditional social media is so big and so vast and “caters” to so many different types of businesses that it often comes down to the lowest common denominator. And that doesn’t benefit anyone. The health and fitness industry is a drop in the ocean and so they are not going to change how they work to help us. They’re certainly not going to change to make the industry better, and if that’s the case for the entire world of fitness, it’s even more true for the Irish fitness industry. We aren’t even a blip on the radar of social media.
Traditional social media is also built to squeeze every last penny out of businesses. There’s a reason that even after someone has gone out of their way to open the app or the website, search for your page, and press like or follow, that they are nowhere near guaranteed to see your posts. While we think of the people with personal profiles as the ones being used, we should also remember that business owners are the ones constantly paying to boost posts, investing in ads, and having to try and beat algorithms to be seen by people who already like or follow you – and that’s before you even consider generating interest from potential new clients.
You shouldn’t need to be an incredible digital marketer as well as a great personal trainer.
You shouldn’t have to waste time on anything that doesn’t improve you as a fitness instructor.
You shouldn’t have to waste energy on anything that doesn’t improve what you offer to your current and future clients.
Unfortunately, right now, you do.
The question then becomes “where does it end?”
Again, the answer is simple. It doesn’t. Social media will continue to be used to advertise every type of business and to squeeze ever more money out of the industry while showing your ads and your posts to people who may or may not be sitting on their couch, watching tv, and eating a packet of crisps – while they may well have been keen on becoming a member or a client yesterday, and they might again in future, they’re certainly not in the frame of mind to make a decision to become healthier in the here and now.
So what’s the answer?
Again, the answer is simple. We create a place where all of the above is reversed, all of the negatives are removed and replaced with a simple, healthy, and fair system to help the regular person find a fitness facility or a fitness professional who suits them, their situation and their goals.
A place like thegymadvisors.ie perhaps?
Whether they’re looking for a traditional gym, a small studio, a crossfit box, a yoga or pilates studio, or somewhere for outdoor classes. When they’re looking for a fitpro they can find a personal trainer, a fitness instructor, a yoga or pilates instructor, a strength and conditioning coach, or any other type of fitness professional.
Well that’s great, but what’s in it for the people who actually work in the industry?
Your mere presence on the site will put you in front of a motivated audience who are either on the verge of engaging with a Fitness Facility or FitPro or, at the very least, are looking to become more educated when it comes to fitness.
You’ll only be contacted by people who know where you are, who you are, and what services you provide – no more wasting time answering DMs or emails from people asking what the best supplement is to take to grow their little toe on their right foot.
You’ll have access to exclusive discounts from our partner businesses who we hand selected to provide incredible services and products to our members to be able to improve their offering to their clients.
If you wish, you’ll be able to collaborate (God, I hate that word) with us on content such as blogs and podcasts to get your thoughts and ideas across in longer formats than traditional social media allows.
And if this is something that abhors you because you’d rather just concentrate on your craft, then no problem, just keep your profile up to date and you’ll have as much chance of being found by potential clients as the people who work with us on blogs, podcasts, and other content. Just one way we are committed to making this site as fair and as healthy as possible.
Become an affiliate and consistently make money by helping your clients get discounts on equipment that they can use for home sessions when they’re not with you – those sessions are just as important and you want to make sure they have exactly what they need.
We’ve already got dozens and dozens of members who care deeply about their clients and the industry as a whole – our job now is to help their voices be heard and continue to work to help the fitness industry into the long term.
As I said at the start, millions of people around the world have dedicated their lives to helping others become better versions of themselves – we’re just trying to make their job easier.
Yours in fitness,
Andy (Founder, owner, general dogsbody at The Gym Advisors)
